Chief Minister Katy Gallagher, one of two ACTEW shareholders, told the corporation in December - four months before the storm broke over the $855,000 salary paid to managing director Mark Sullivan - that she wanted the review.

But the government says the two issues are not related.

An ACTEW spokesperson confirmed on Monday evening that the review was underway.

ACTEW did not answer a question about which organisation was conducting the review.

Disquiet over the company's spending came to a head this month as chairman John Mackay was forced to publicly defend $12,500 paid by the company, with the money going to charity, for him to act as a caddy to a professional golfer at a tournament in Queensland.

ACTEW declared 62 sponsorships in 2011-12 ranging from $62,500 for the National Gallery's Ballet Russes exhibition to $415 for Lifeline.

The company does not publicly declare its spending on corporate hospitality.

Responding to a series of questions from The Canberra Times on Monday, Ms Gallagher said she acted on "concerns" in December last year and had a "blunt conversation'' with Mr Mackay when she asked for reassurance on ACTEW's discretionary spending.

"As a shareholder, I needed reassurance that nothing untoward was happening, that all their integrity processes were being followed and that no one was enjoying corporate largesse that shouldn't be and that the corporate largesse was all in order," the Chief Minister said.

Ms Gallagher said she wanted to know if ACTEW's activities were in line with the spending of water utilities around the nation.

"It was a request that they provide an assurance to the shareholders that all of the integrity and process around sponsorships and their own business were in line with industry standards," Ms Gallagher said.

"I can't do that work myself so I had to write to the chair and then the board had to consider that and they have and I've been told that, that they have undertaken to do a review and to provide the advice to shareholders."

ACTEW is a territory-owned corporation with two shareholders, the Chief Minister and the Treasurer, but legislative arrangements limit the ability of the politicians to directly intervene in the company's affairs.

"I have some powers under the Territory-owned Corporations Act but I couldn't, for example,

commission a report into ACTEW's corporate activities," Ms Gallagher said.

ACTEW will face an Assembly committee on Thursday to answer questions about its annual report, the corporation's first public outing since news emerged that it had under-reported Mr Sullivan's salary by $234,000. "I expect it will be a robust exchange," Ms Gallagher said.

She said she and Andrew Barr were still waiting for answers to a series of questions they had put to ACTEW on the question of the salary and its under-reporting. "We haven't jumped to any conclusions but we just want all the information and we will make some decisions based on that," she said. "There will have to be, at a minimum, some changes to the way things have been operating.''